There is widespread agreement in the literature that intangible assets, particularly those of a relational nature, are key determinants of firm performance. Scholars also acknowledge that stakeholder relationships and innovation are inextricably connected. Conceptual support for these linkages is found in established management theories and evidence from empirical research. However, this research has been handicapped by various data limitations. The purpose of this study is to introduce and evaluate a new dataset that overcomes many of those limitations, allowing for a more comprehensive examination of the complex interplay of relationship-based assets, innovation, and financial performance. Based on this review, we conclude that the Drucker system of measuring customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction/engagement, innovation, and corporate social performance exhibits sufficient content and other types of validity to be suitable for academic research involving this set of intangibles.
Ghanbarpour, Tohid; Sahabeh, Easa & Gustafsson, Anders (2022)
Consumer response to online behavioral advertising in a social media context: The role of perceived ad complicity
Brands and social media platforms are two main players in online behavioral advertising (OBA), but the extant literature overlooks the interaction between them. Although advertising brands invest considerable resources to target potential consumers through social media advertising, our analysis indicates that publisher-platform-related activities can elicit negative consequences. Thus, we examined the role of perceived ad complicity, that is, consumers' perception regarding advertisers partnering with the social media platforms in the OBA process. We used perceived ad complicity as a moderator to explain the variation in consumers' negative responses to OBA in a social media context. Our results indicate that consumers with high perceived ad complicity experience greater perceived ad intrusiveness. This effect directly impacts their attitudes toward publisher platforms and advertising brands but consumers react more negatively toward brands (vs. publisher platforms) regarding this practice. Furthermore, we found that consumers who are more sensitive to social norms experience stronger perceived ad complicity and that informing consumers about why they are seeing specific ads on their social media platforms does not change their views on ad complicity.
Ghanbarpour, Tohid & Gustafsson, Anders (2021)
How do corporate social responsibility (CSR) and innovativeness increase financial gains? A customer perspective analysis
Previous research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and firm innovativeness and their impact on financial performance has focused on firms’ actions (i.e., what firms do). However, how customers perceive these firm activities have not been fully explored; there is a lack of research particularly on the long-term effects of these actions. Consequently, the present study investigates the effects of customer-perceived CSR and firm innovativeness on financial earnings, both in the short and long term. Firm actions, if meaningful, should impact customer perceptions of a firm, which affect customer satisfaction and the firm’s earnings consequently. Using panel data from service firms, our analysis indicates that perceived firm actions positively influence future earnings through customers’ overall evaluations of a firm. Furthermore, the results reveal a carryover effect of perceived actions in the long term. The present research also indicates that customers’ positive perceptions of firm actions do not directly impact financial earnings; however, they do impact earnings through customer satisfaction. This emphasizes the importance of communicating innovation, and particularly CSR activities, to customers.
Ghanbarpour, Tohid; Gustafsson, Anders & Crosby, Lawrence (2022)
Innovation, Antecedents and Firm Value: A Resource Based View Approach
[Academic lecture]. 2022 AMA Winter Academic Conference.
Summary of Findings • We show a positive effect of EE on innovation (at the firm level and in a general) and on CSR, empirically demonstrating the prediction of natural RBV. • CSR partially mediates the influence of EE on innovation, which indicates that engaged employees contribute to innovation practices that are beneficial to stakeholders in a socially responsible manner. • Consistent with prior research on CSR, our results showed an insignificant direct effect of CSR on firm value. However, we demonstrate an indirect path through innovation. Thus, CSR activities increase firm value by contributing to innovation. In other words, firms that engage in CSR activities that require being innovative should enjoy higher firm value. • Our results show a positive direct and indirect effect of EE on firm value through innovation. According to the obtained results, we conclude that employee engagement attracts investors, which enhances firm value directly, while employee engagement also strengthens firm capabilities such as CSR and innovation. This increases the total impact of EE and demonstrates the vital role of innovation in transmitting the full effect of EE and CSR on firm value.